NBA Playoff Recap - East First Round, Game 4

(6) Milwaukee 111, (3) Atlanta 104 - Series tied, 2-2

The beat goes on. Or perhaps one should say, the beatdown goes on, for the Atlanta Hawks on the road.

Even with the Milwaukee Bucks lacking their powerful and formidable center; even with the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference lacking the ability to contest shots and board up near the rim; even with a guard-heavy team missing the ability to play physical basketball within six feet of the basket, the ballclub from Georgia could not take advantage.

Yes, despite the absence of Andrew Bogut from this best-of-seven encounter, Coach Scott Skiles has his Milwaukee men even with Atlanta. The Bucks looked to be cooked when they lost two 10-point games in the Peachtree State, but upon returning home for Games 3 and 4, they've drawn even with coach Mike Woodson's limp, lame and lazy athletes, who have once again managed to make a first-round series far more interesting than it needed to be.

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Let's play the broken record once again, only in a briefer cliff-notes fashion: Last year, the Hawks got entangled in an opening-round series with the one-man gang known as the Miami Heat. Despite the fact that Dwyane Wade (in 2009, just like 2010) was the only person who could threaten them, the Hawks lost two blowout games in Miami and played one of the worst seven-game series ever seen in NBA history. They did prevail, but considering the minimal quality of the Heat, they should have been able to win in five or six games, not seven. A considerable lack of maturity - which often manifested itself in the form of timid, uneven defense - allowed Miami to stick around far longer than necessary.

Fast forward one year, and evidently, not much has changed in Atlanta. Monday's game in Milwaukee confirmed as much.

Once again, the Hawks find themselves in a 2-2 series against an inferior opponent. In this contest at the Bradley Center, the visitors once again failed to show much in the way of grit, resilience or hustle.

Milwaukee hit 55 percent of its shots in eviscerating Atlanta's nonexistent defense. John Salmons (22 points) and Brandon Jennings (23 points) filled the stat sheet in a pair of expected developments, but the bonus performance which carried Milwaukee came from Carlos Delfino, who added 22 more for the home team on 8-of-14 shooting. The Bucks also asserted themselves in Game 4 by attempting 11 more foul shots than the Hawks (32-21) and making 88 percent of their charity pitches (28 of 32). It was an appreciably complete display for a Milwaukee roster that -without the defense-minded Bogut - needs to score big to win this series. In the past two games at the Bradley Center, the Bucks delivered the goods by averaging 109 points.

Now that a Game 6 is assured, it's hard to think this series will witness a single victory by a road team. That's bad news for Milwaukee in the long run, but then again, if the Bucks can pull off a Game 5 stunner, they'll be in position to produce a shocker.

It's up to the Atlanta Hawks to decide how their season will ultimately unfold.

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By: Matt Zemek
ProBasketball-fans.com Senior Staff Writer

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